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Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch's headstone, which was engraved with the wrong birth date, has been fixed. The former mayor's tombstone had listed Koch's birth date as Dec. 12, 1942, instead of 1924. Melissa Russo reports. (Published Tuesday, June 18, 2013)

Updated at 7:19 PM EDT on Tuesday, Jun 18, 2013

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch's headstone, which was engraved with the wrong birth date, has been fixed, NBC 4 New York has learned.

The tombstone for former Mayor Ed Koch, who died in February after meticulously planning the details of his burial for years, was mistakenly engraved with the wrong birth date, NBC 4 New York has found.

The headstone mistake was especially jarring because Koch, mayor from 1978 to 1989, so carefully planned his burial years before his death.

His former chief of staff, Diane Coffey, said at his funeral that he had begun preparing for his death in the 1980s.

"Who else plans every detail of a burial?" she said.

He purchased a plot at Trinity Church cemetery in Manhattan and pre-ordered his tombstone.

The marker did not have the birth date engraved on it when Koch was buried. Tommy Flynn, of Flynn Funeral and Cremation Memorial Services, told NBC 4 New York the dates were engraved earlier this month, and the mistake was "an inadvertent error."

Coffey told NBC 4 New York on Monday that she was "appalled" to hear of the error, but also said Koch might have found humor in the mistake.

"As Ed Koch used to say, 'It's always important to correct the record,'" she said.

Ed Koch Tombstone Has Wrong Birth Date

The tombstone for former Mayor Ed Koch, who died in February after meticulously planning the details of his burial for years, was mistakenly engraved with the wrong birth date, NBC 4 New York has found. Melissa Russo reports. (Published Monday, June 17, 2013)